TEE Done

First, Tom writes:

My comment is only a slight correction. The trans-esophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is a long tube that goes part way down the esophagus, but does not enter the stomach. Its purpose is to visualize the heart from right behind the heart, as opposed to the regular echocardiogram which tries to see it from the front of the chest wall where things like ribs get in the way. Check out: http://www.heartsite.com/html/tee.html for some diagrams.

The cardiologist just came back and said that the valves look fine, no abscess. He described the mitral valve leak as "moderate," not severe. (c.f., this post)

One of the doctors confirmed that there is a secondary infection, somewhere. It is the white blood cell count and temperature that point things this direction.

So you can pray that we find it, and preferably, find it quickly. We -- the family, and our closest friends -- are praying that we find it today.